When Reality Knocks
by ismellcake
Summary: This is a story about coming home and facing all you've left behind. It's about discovering that life changes people and sometimes you don't know everything. Sorry, I'm really awful with summaries. ExB, AH


Blanket disclaimer for entire fic. No copyright infringement intended.

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**Prologue**

Bella

It had been an insane year and a half. Everything happened so fast. One minute I was randomly mentioning an idea for a story and the next thing I knew it had snowballed into me writing a screenplay that was rushed into production with a seventy million dollar budget. To say I was stunned would have been an understatement. It wasn't planned or something I'd even dreamed possible but that's how it had all happened and I had no choice but to grab on and go for the ride. The goal had always been to become a professional writer and well, now I was.

It was surreal and exciting but somewhere over the course of achieving my dream I'd been stuck on a rollercoaster that never seemed to stop. It was endless hours of hard work and pushing myself to keep going but it had been worth it because finally, the end was insight.

The majority of the movie had been shot. There wasn't much reason for me to stay on location until it wrapped. Any last minute production rewrites could be handled by phone and email. So, I begged off a week early to surprise Edward and spend Thanksgiving with everyone.

I'd missed out on so much between constantly flying back and forth to LA and spending the past two months on location. It was both a dream come true and a bitter reminder of how much I missed my fiancé. The term fiancé still seemed so new to me. We'd just bought our house and gotten engaged when everything started to happen for me. Now that I was home we could set the wedding date. Maybe even get married sometime over Christmas, something with our families and just a few friends.

Edward had been incredibly supportive but I knew the separation had gotten to him too. What made things all the more difficult on us was that he couldn't come visit. We were shooting in New Zealand and the distance was just too great. He was an eleventh grade English teacher so getting time off during the fall semester was out of the question.

No one knew I was coming home early. I wanted to surprise them so I had the taxi drop me off a few doors down from our house. It felt good to finally be home. I could hear the playful murmur of voices in the backyard. They'd either be in the hot tub or sitting around the fire pit, drinking beer, teasing, reminiscing - just being together. If he hadn't already, Jasper would eventually take out his acoustic and start playing the odd melody.

It's what we'd done every year since tenth grade. This would have been the first year Edward and I hadn't been together for it. We'd both been devastated by the prospect. It was always the seven of us the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Ben used to make it eight but he'd broken up with Angela right after college and moved to New York.

I set my suitcases down by the bushes in the front yard and tiptoed around the side of the house. Their voices began to clear as I neared the back.

Edward playfully protested, "Emmett, stop. Stop. You're going to make me burn it again."

I couldn't help the proud smile - that was my guy. He couldn't roast a marshmallow to save his life. Every time it turned into a fireball.

Emmett countered, "You're not even getting it close enough to brown. Give it to me, I'll toast it just right."

I quietly stepped into the yard but hung back in the shadows, taking them all in. I wanted to enjoy the moment of seeing everyone again. It had been too long. Two months too long.

Everyone was huddled around the fire pit. Alice and Rose were battling it out, trying to tear open the protective wrap around a box of graham crackers. Jasper was whittling points into several sticks for roasting. Edward and Emmett were bickering, as always, over marshmallow roasting techniques. Meanwhile, Angela was once again acting as referee, "Children, play nice."

Edward laughed and swung his arm over her shoulder before turning back to his brother. "Yeah, no showing me up in front of my date. I'm trying to look manly here."

Angela overly batted her lashes, "My hero."

Emmett was having none of it and wrapped his arm around her too. "If it's manly the lady needs-"

Angela wrinkled her nose and shoved him off. "Ugh. Deodorant. You heard of it?"

Emmett sniffed under his arm and quickly matched Angela's grimace. "Guess I forgot the extra swipe this afternoon. Rosie still loves me, stinky or not, don't you?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "I still love you but I'm not going near the rancidness that is you without deodorant."

Emmett waggled his brows right before lunging for her, "I beg to differ."

Rosalie let out a squeal and took off running to the back of the yard, Emmett hot on her heels.

Poor Edward was so distracted he failed to see his marshmallow go up in flames and fall into the fire pit.

Alice gave an exaggerated sigh and grabbed his stick, "That's it! You're cut off from roasting duty. Leave it to the professionals or we'll be smoreless the rest of the night. You, Mr. Executioner-of-marshmallows, go gather some more wood."

I bit back my laugh.

Edward took mock offense to Alice's chastisement, "Just for that I'm stealing Angela." He tucked Angela's hand into the crook of his arm to escort her over.

Alice shook her head, "No way. She stays here. Get opening those chocolate bars, Angie."

Edward let out his own overly exaggerated sigh, "Fine, you can keep her but just for your dictator attitude- " Edward spun Angela around to face him and kissed her.

They were definitely playing it up to get under Alice's skin. They were always finding ways to push her buttons. She hated public displays of affection between anyone but her and Jasper.

But Angela's reaction to the kiss confused me. She leaned into Edward, her body fully pressing against his as they both opened their mouths to deepen the kiss.

My heart stopped.

It wasn't a fake kiss.

It was real.

Passionate and comfortable.

Too comfortable.

A cold sweat rolled over me.

They'd done this before.

Kissed this way.

My breathing had become erratic.

They moved in tandem, reacting to one another with the ease only lovers possessed.

They were lovers.

Tears pricked my eyes. I struggled to hold them back.

This wasn't happening.

It couldn't be.

Edward and I were engaged.

We loved each other.

And Angela was one of my best friends.

She wouldn't do this.

They wouldn't do this.

But - The kiss wasn't stopping.

Alice screeched. "Ew! We don't want to see that. Get a room, go inside."

The two of them broke apart, triumphant smirks in place. Angela quipped as she smoothed her hand over Edward's behind, "Oh believe me, we will be."

I couldn't breathe.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah just wait until we leave. No one needs to hear the booty call."

That's when the rest of my world shattered.

My stomach twisted.

They knew.

Alice and Jasper.

Which meant so did Rosalie and Emmett.

My friends knew.

And they were okay with it.

How could they be okay with it?

I choked back the bile building in my throat.

The answer was crystal clear –

They didn't care about me.

Not one of them cared.

Not one.

I'd been betrayed by everyone I loved and trusted.

I felt like I was going to be sick, pass out but instead, time seemed to slow.

All sound was replaced by the erratic thump of my heart. I focused on it. Allowed it to guide me.

I couldn't stay there.

I had to get out.

Leave.

I needed to pull myself together.

I refused to let my tears fall. If I did, I'd never stop and I couldn't do that in front of them. I wouldn't.

I forced myself to take action. I slipped my engagement ring off and stepped out of the shadows. I barely registered the shocked gasps as they saw me. My eyes never left the fire as I tossed the ring into it and ran into the house through the sliding glass door, locking it behind me.

I didn't want to see or speak to any of them. I just wanted to get the few things I needed and leave. I wouldn't give any of them the chance to talk. It would be endless guilt tipped lies and excuses to make themselves feel better.

No. Just no.

I sprinted for the front door, tearing it open and grabbing the hide-a-key from under the porch planter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward running around from the back toward the porch. He was calling out for me to wait but I didn't. I ducked back inside, quickly sliding the deadbolt in place.

By then there was incessant banging and yelling from both the front and back doors.

I ignored them and numbly went about gathering what I needed – Two photo albums from my childhood with my parents, my birth certificate and an external hard drive with all my writing and personal files on it. That was all I took. Everything else was replaceable.

I shoved it all into a bag, grabbed my car keys from the tray near the front door and headed into the attached garage.

I was shaking, barely holding it together as I climbed into my car and auto-locked the doors. All I wanted to do was crumple into a ball and never get up but that wasn't an option. Not yet at least.

I spent a moment devising a plan. I wouldn't go to my dad's. That would be the first place they'd look for me. No, I needed to just get on the highway and keep driving until I hit LA. Only then would I allow myself to fall apart.

With a few calming deep breaths, I started the car and pushed the button for the garage door. It seemed to take forever to rise, through the rearview mirror I saw Rosalie slip into the garage. Alice was about to follow but Rose halted her with a look. Alice dejectedly stepped back outside.

Rose was on a mission. She was going to talk to me whether I liked it or not. I hated that I was trapped until the garage door had opened fully.

Rose gently knocked on the driver's side window. I took another deep breath and turned to face her. Sorrow and guilt etched across her features.

"Bell, I'm so sorry. We –"

I turned up the radio full blast to drown her out. I couldn't – didn't want to listen to her or any of them. She took the hint, no longer trying to talk to me.

My tears suddenly broke free, gasping sobs shaking me to my core. I let her see a glimpse of my annihilation. My heart torn open, exposed. There was no going back. No way to erase this. No way to fix it. Ever.

With a sad nod of acceptance, she pressed her palm against the window hoping to convey how much she still loved me.

How I wished that was true in that moment. It wasn't though. Otherwise she would have done something. Stopped it from happening. Told me about it. Made me a priority. But she didn't, she was like the rest of them. She chose a side and it wasn't mine.

No one was on my side.

I was alone.

All alone.

The garage door was finally up all the way. It was time to go.

Rosalie disappeared back outside, ushering Alice out of the driveway.

I could hear the cacophony of arguing overtop of the blaring car stereo as I pulled out of the garage and onto the street.

I never looked in the rearview to watch them disappear in the distance. They'd already been gone from my life, I just didn't know it until then.

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Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear what thoughts on this opening chapter. I must admit I was very nervous about posting a fic that started like this. Hopefully you'll stick around for the rest of the journey.

Please excuse any typos, etc. I'm without a beta. However, the very cool, very incognito, SSW (snort) over at emergency team beta helped me out with a stumbling block. Thanks! ETB's awesome, check them out for any small beta needs/questions. LOL – Don't hold them accountable for this chapter though. It's 100% my mess.

I'm almost done with the next chapter so it should be up soon.


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